Returning to the Moon

Just a three-day trip from Earth by spacecraft, the luminous Moon beckons. Only 12 men—American astronauts on Apollo missions—have set foot on its near-black, powdery surface and no person has been there since December 1972. But today, many scientists and engineers in the U.S. and elsewhere are determined to send people back to the Moon—while others work to send robots there first. Come and explore the rim of Shackleton Crater, near the Moon's South Pole, which has never been visited by humans.